Combining art and artifice

Rachel Kushner's debut novel, Telex from Cuba, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2008, alongside Marilynne Robinson (Home) and Peter Mathiessen, who won with Shadow Country. No small feat simply to have one's name printed next to those towering figures. She has also been an editor at the acclaimed magazine BOMB and the...

Art, youth and motorcycles

When Rachel Kushner sat down to write her second novel, she had three images taped to the wall above her desk: A pretty young blonde woman, face painted for war, with an X of tape across her lips, which eventually became the cover image; a well-heeled engineer standing with his creation, a 1971 Ducati motorcycle; and two men racing by in a primitive cycle and sidecar, circa World War I.The...

Americans in Cuba

Everly Lederer and K.C. Stites, the central characters in Rachel Kushner's debut novel, Telex from Cuba, are busy coming of age in 1950s Cuba. K.C. is the privileged son of the president of United Fruit, while Everly and her family dwell on the (relatively) less wealthy side of the American enclave. They serve as our eyes and ears in a unique Cuba, sharply discerning the disparities and...